1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile radio terminal and a network commerce system using the mobile radio terminal and particularly, to a mobile radio terminal having a fingerprint sensor and a network commerce system using the mobile radio terminal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various kinds of functions have been rapidly provided to a mobile radio terminal such as a cellular phone or the like, and it is expected that goods will be purchased or a payment for the goods thus purchased will be made through electric commerce (electronic business transactions) using a cellular phone or the like. Therefore, each mobile radio terminal is required to have a function of specifying a purchaser of goods or the like so that goods can be prevented from being purchased in business transactions with a mischievous prank or by using a stolen cellular phone or the like, or a function of authenticating a person who makes a payment by using a cellular phone.
A cellular phone is generally provided with a function of invalidating input of numerical keys or the like (hereinafter referred to as “key lock”), and the key lock is set/released by inputting a password which is registered in advance.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a fingerprint authenticating device described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-165378 (JP 2000-165378 A).
The fingerprint authenticating device shown in FIG. 1 is mounted in a mobile radio terminal, and fingerprint reading portion 101 is provided to power source switch 100 of the mobile radio terminal. When the power source switch 100 is pressed, fingerprint authentication is carried out in fingerprint authentication portion 120. If the fingerprint of a user is coincident with a fingerprint registered in fingerprint registering portion 110, the mobile radio terminal is operated by operation controller 160. Further, on the basis of the authentication result output from the fingerprint authentication portion 120, user identification is carried out on user identifying portion 180.
The fingerprint authenticating device is further provided with a voiceprint authenticating function. In a voiceprint authenticating portion 150, a voiceprint of a voice input through microphone 130 is collated with a voiceprint registered in voiceprint registering portion 140, and if the voiceprint in the voiceprint registering portion 140 is coincident with the voiceprint from microphone 130, the mobile radio terminal is allowed to make a telephone call. When a fixed predetermined time elapses from the start of the telephone call, the power source of the mobile radio terminal is turned out by timer portion 170. Accordingly, even when the mobile radio terminal is lost or stolen while it is under operation, unauthorized use of the mobile radio terminal can be prevented.
According to this device, by only a simple operation such as an operation of pushing the power source switch 100, the fingerprint can be authenticated and the security of the mobile radio terminal can be enhanced. Further, if a multi-stage key is used as a telephone call key, the fingerprint authentication and occurrence of a random number could be carried out by half-pushing while the telephone call is allowed by full-pushing.
In the above prior art, the fingerprint reading portion (hereinafter referred to as “fingerprint sensor”) of the power source switch is provided, however, when the power source switch is designed in a compact size in connection with miniaturization of the mobile radio terminal, there occurs a case where sufficient fingerprint authentication cannot be performed. Specifically, it is required to set the size of the fingerprint sensor so that a finger is substantially perfectly put on the fingerprint sensor to detect the fingerprint precisely, and in order to satisfy this requirement, the size of the fingerprint sensor is estimated to be equal to at least about 15 mm square (millimeters square).